The Latest Obamacare Overreach

Many religious conservatives understandably are upset with the latest Obamacare
mandate, which will require religious employers (including Catholic employers)
to provide birth control to workers receiving healthcare benefits. This mandate
includes certain birth control devices that are considered abortifacients,
like IUDs and the "morning after" pill.

Of course Catholic teachings forbid the use of any sort of contraceptive devices,
so this rule is anathema to the religious beliefs of Catholic employers. Religious
freedom always has been considered sacrosanct in this country. However, our
federal bureaucracy increasingly forces Americans to subsidize behaviors they
find personally abhorrent, either through agency mandates or direct transfer
payments funded by tax dollars.

Proponents of this mandate do not understand the gravity of forcing employers
to subsidize activities that deeply conflict with their religious convictions.
Proponents also do not understand that a refusal to subsidize those activities
does not mean the employer is "denying access" to healthcare. If employers
don't provide free food to employees, do we accuse them of starving their workers?

In truth this mandate has nothing to do with healthcare, and everything to
do with the abortion industry and a hatred for traditional religious values.
Obamacare apologists cannot abide any religious philosophy that promotes large,
two parent, nuclear, heterosexual families and frowns on divorce and abortion.
Because the political class hates these values, it feels compelled to impose--by
force of law--its preferred vision of society: single parents are noble; birth
control should be encouraged at an early age; and abortion must be upheld as
an absolute moral right.

So the political class simply tells the American people and American industry
what values must prevail, and what costs much be borne to implement those values.
This time, however, the political class has been shocked by the uproar to the
new mandate that it did not anticipate or understand.

But Catholic hospitals face the existential choice of obeying their conscience
and engaging in civil disobedience, or closing their doors because government
claims the power to force them to violate the teachings of their faith. This
terrible imposition has resonated with many Americans, and now the Obama administration
finds itself having to defend the terrible cultural baggage of the anti-religious
left.

Of course many Catholic leaders originally supported Obamacare because they
naively believe against all evidence that benign angels in government will
improve medical care for the poor. And many religious leaders support federal
welfare programs generally without understanding that recipients of those dollars
can use them for abortions, contraceptives, or any number of activities that
conflict deeply with religious teachings. This is why private charity is so
vitally important and morally superior to a government-run medical system.

The First Amendment guarantee of religious liberty is intended to ensure that
Americans never have to put the demands of the federal government ahead of
the their own conscience or religious beliefs. This new policy turns that guarantee
on its head. The benefits or drawbacks of birth control are not the issue.
The issue is whether government may force private employers and private citizens
to violate their moral codes simply by operating their businesses or paying
their taxes.

Congressman Ron Paul of Texas enjoys a national reputation as the premier
advocate for liberty in politics today. Dr. Paul is the leading spokesman
in Washington for limited constitutional government, low taxes, free markets,
and a return to sound monetary policies based on commodity-backed currency.
He is known among both his colleagues in Congress and his constituents for
his consistent voting record in the House of Representatives: Dr. Paul never
votes for legislation unless the proposed measure is expressly authorized
by the Constitution. In the words of former Treasury Secretary William Simon,
Dr. Paul is the "one exception to the Gang of 535" on Capitol Hill.